Nick Clegg signing a statement reading 'I pledge to vote against any increase in fees…'

Well, it was a long time ago. Now the government's adviser, Lord Browne (the massively rich BP chairman who had to resign because he'd committed perjury) has recommended unlimited fee increases and loans charged at commercial rates - that'll get people flocking to teaching, nursing and social work.

Of course, the coalition will find some way to soften the blow: they'll use Browne as a fear-inducing option before doing whatever it was they already wanted to do, but the bottom line is that these Lib Dem MPs will find themselves voting to increase fees, making liars of them and fools of us all.

This is no surprise to me of course. The Liberal Democrats were founded in treason: the SDP consisted of Labour MPs who decided they could no longer stay in the room with smelly proletarian types with their working-class fixations, and bailed out to campaign for better coffee and plusher sandals. Then they merged with the remains of the old Liberal Party, and the rest was bullshit history, right up to the 2010 election, when they appealed directly to students to vote for them to stop Labour and Tory fee increases.

There's a simple lesson. The Tories are honest scum. They'll stab you in the front so they can see your face. The Lib Dems have built a political machine on stabbing people in the back. They can't stop now.